How did you cope with the recent wintry storm? Do you think cities and agencies responded appropriately?

Leigh Plagens, Rockwall: The bad weather caused me to stay inside and make use of the “found time” to wrap presents, address Christmas cards and finish decorating. It also gave me an excuse to sit by the fire and read and not feel guilty that I was missing things that were canceled.

I think the cities responded in a timely fashion with updates and warnings on the computer as did the schools and county. We did not lose power, but I know Oncor had its people working nonstop to make sure it was restored as quickly as possible.

Susie Harrison, Heath: We lit the fireplace (gas logs) and we have gas cooking, so I suppose we did better than most without power. After the last power outage in cold weather, we bought a glass lantern that will burn fuel when lit with a match for lighting the house. We were more prepared for this and the plan worked. We were glad to see the power turn on after a day-and-a-half without it. Thanks so much to the people at Oncor for the effort in this cold weather.

Barbara Grisell, Rowlett: We woke up to no electricity, but fortunately, it was only off for about three hours. However, it blew out our Verizon FiOS so we had no home phone, TV or internet for six days. So here we were, iced in and nothing to do ... or so we thought. We actually talked. Really talked. We read books and listened to the radio. Was this time ever an eye-opener. I have always wondered why, being retired and all, that I seem to have less time than when I worked. Now I know. It's all these electronic gadgets that are suppose to make our lives easier, but in reality, they rob us of time.

Somehow, in the rush to keep up with new technology, we lost sight of something very precious ... conversation, family time, playing table games, writing notes on real paper, reading a good book or the Bible and making notes in the margin, writing our lifetime of memories to hand down to our children, and much more. So some changes are being made at our house. Things we value most in life will take top priority. Yes, the ice storm was an inconvenience, but it brought us back to the things we loved but had somehow lost.

Kris Kriofske, Rowlett: In the 28 years that I have been a Texan, I have experienced about six or seven ice storms similar to our recent northerly assault. I came from Wisconsin where such ice and snow storms are a frequent winter experience. It amuses me how Texans shudder at the “blue northerns” that take the temperature to a “bone-chilling” 50 degrees in a short period of time.

In Wisconsin, schools are closed when the snow exceeds 12 inches in a few hours and the temps go down to minus 30 degrees. When I was a kid, we rode our bikes to school in such weather and Mom and Dad rarely missed work. Then we pedaled our papers after school on our bikes. All papers went in the storm doors, not on the walks and lawns, meaning we got off and on our bikes at each house. We played high school football in icy mud and raging blizzards. It was fun, believe it or not.

Oh, but back to your question. The cities and the state did a pretty good job making the roads passable with the exception of several flyover ramps that should have been a high priority. I applaud their efforts.

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